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Norse Mythology

In Norse mythology, Thor is a Æsir god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing and fertility. Thor is described as a barrel-chested ugly man, carrying a menagerie of magical weapons, from a pair of magical gauntlets to a girdle of strength. However, his most notable weapon is the hammer Mjölnir, which is powerful enough to level mountains.

In the God of War Series

Before God of War (2018)

Thor was born as the son of Odin and Fjörgyn and half-brother to Týr and Baldur. At some point in his life, he became the husband of Sif. Thor also had two sons, Magni with a jötunn Járnsaxa and Modi with an unknow jotunn. Odin commissioned Brok and Sindri to build Mjölnir for Thor, a job the two would come to bitterly regret. When Odin’s deception was discovered by the giants and banished from Jötunheim forever, he ordered Thor to use his new weapon to slaughter all the Giants in Midgard. By the time of Laufey's death, Thor had already slaughtered all the giants in Midgard (with the exception of Jörmungandr) and earned a fearful reputation as the strongest Norse God. When Thamur went Midgard to search for his son, Hrimthur, Thor appears and killed the Stonemason with his own chisel and Thamur's gigantic size crush the village worship Njörd as well Thor always took credits but the "sweaty bawbag" just got lucky. Following the slaughter, Odin entered into a bet with Hrimthur, a Jötunn disguised as a mortal, to improve the walls of Asgard within a near-impossible span of time. Odin lost the bet and sent Thor to kill Hrimthur when he discovered Hrimthur’s true nature. Unbeknownst to Odin, Hrimthur had sabotaged the walls and entrusted the secret of his deception only to Freya for the preparation for Ragnarök when Surtr arrive to burn as Asgard to ash. After losing his hammer to Thrym, Thor snuck with his step-mother Freya into wedding feast between Thrym and Freya. When Thrym revealed Mjölnir, Thor revealed himself and took back his hammer to kill Thrym by smashing his skull until Freya cast a spell to return Thor and herself back to Asgard which caused Thor to hold disdain against his step-mother. After Baldur abandoned Freya, Thor was raised with his half-brother and trusted him, but Baldur considered Thor and their entire family to be "fucked up".

Although absent in the main campaign, he is mentioned consistently throughout it as a monster who slew every Giant he could find in Midgard to satisfy his blood-lust.

Thor is also mentioned to have fought The World Serpent years ago during his massacre of the Giants. But, instead of emerging victorious, the World Serpent proved to be just as strong as the Thunder God, leading to a stalemate. Thus, Thor was forced to return to his father Odin empty-handed. As a result, Thor and The World Serpent have hated each other ever since. It is also said that their rivalry will not end until the coming of Ragnarök.

Kratos and Atreus also meet the spirit of a disciple of Thor, who desires vengeance on the god for wronging his family. After his father died, the spirit's mother built a statue of Thor to watch over the grave and were surprised when the god himself came to offer condolences. While they were initially thrilled, Thor took advantage of the family's hospitality. The mother had to beg him to leave, but in a drunken rage, Thor murdered her. The man lived in grief until it eventually turned to rage and hatred.

Before he can leave Midgard to begin his quest for vengeance, he requests that the statue be destroyed, and any valuables in his father's grave may be looted with his blessing. In their boat, Kratos uses the man's story to remind his son of an important lesson: the lives of men mean nothing to the gods, recounting Kratos' own experience of being betrayed time and again by the Olympian Gods.

After Modi fled to Asgard upon Kratos killing Magni, Thor was furious to learn of his favored son's death, angrily and brutally beating down Modi for his cowardice.

Thor only physically appears in the game's true ending during a dream about the future. Years after the events of the game, as Kratos and his son was sleeping, Thor summoned a huge storm outside their house; using lightning to force them to leave and confront him. When Kratos demands he reveals his identity, Thor's cloak lifts, revealing Mjölnir as it emits electricity. This is relayed by Atreus to his father after he had woken from the dream, possibly to avenge his sons and the half-brother whom the pair had killed.

Appearance

Although Thor's full appearance is not fully shown, he wears a hooded black cloak and has blue eyes. He has a thick beard and red hair, which seems to be braided (as mentioned in The Lost Pages of Norse Myth:Episode 4). He is exceptionally tall and muscular, roughly equal to Kratos in terms of body stature and height. He seems to have a cold-blooded and serious expression. According to Mimir, Thor also has several pieces of the stone giant Hrungnir stuck in his skull.

Personality

Thor is said to be incredibly cruel, wrathful, ruthless, destructive and bloodthirsty, showing no mercy to his enemies. His bloodlust was noted by Mimir to be the only thing greater than Odin's great paranoia and many consider him the worst of the Aesir gods. Despite being half-giant himself, Thor took pleasure in killing any giant he could find. His reputation was somewhat similar to Ares, who was considered the worst among the Olympian gods.

What makes him different from Ares, however, is that he seems to be somewhat honorable, as he dislikes cowardice. When Modi left Magni, his favorite son, to die; Thor was angered greatly and subsequently beat his surviving son for fleeing from Kratos and called Modi a coward. He also somewhat cares for those who worshipped him, as when one of his followers died he made time to visit the family, although even then he still could be enraged easily, especially while drunk, and ended up taking advantage of his higher status.

Thor's overall intelligence could be called into question, as many a time has Thor been made a fool of himself or made stupid, reckless mistakes (quite comparable to his sons, in fact). According to Kratos, Thor is a fool as Mimir explained that Thor with Mjölnir in hand couldn't break so much ice to reach the dead giant's chisel. Mimir called him the fat dobber, the butchering bastard and the sweaty bawbag. Also, Brok considered him the big idiot. Atreus called him an idiot when hearing about how he got crushed by Hrungnir's body. Most of all, Thor nearly lost his legendary hammer to the giant, Thrym, when he was carelessly sleeping. However, Thor is clever enough to know his limit and not try to challenge Starkaor alone, knowing very well that he would die.

In addition, Thor is arrogant, typical for an Aesir, as he would go to great lengths to cement his reputation amongst the Nine Realms and be respected, as well as feared. An example being the destruction of the village when Thor battled Thamur, Thor claimed credit for the giant's death and the village's destruction, despite the fact that Thor was merely lucky in both actions.

Despite his dark side, Thor has proven to deeply care and trust his family. He is known for being very loyal to Odin and respected Baldur, even despite the latter's insanity. Magni points out that he and Modi have to trust Baldur because their father believes in him, despite Modi proclaiming that their uncle had not been sane for a while. Thor was also known for being furious at Magni's death and after Modi and Baldur died as well, Thor would apparently attack Kratos and Atreus to seek vengeance for their demises, however he seems to favor Magni over Modi, making him a bad parent.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Being both half-giant and Odin's firstborn son, Thor is the second most powerful of the Aesir (and maybe physically the strongest Aesir), surpassed only by his father. His power is great enough for having slaughtered almost all the Giants by himself and being feared by most for his immense power and his brutality. In addition, even with Kratos and Atreus having killed Baldur, Magni, and Modi, Thor appears to be still powerful enough to come personally alone to challenge them in their house.

Superhuman Strength: As the God of Strength, half-giant, and Odin's firstborn son, Thor possesses an immensely vast level of superhuman strength. His strength is so great that he was able to single-handedly slaughter the Giants to near extinction, with only Jörmungandr being strong enough to match his strength. Only Starkaor, the mightiest Giant, proved to be too much for Thor to defeat or even fight alone, requiring him to resort to having aid from the Vanir, Midgard and Aesir forces to defeat him, although Thor was still strong enough to rip his arms off after he had sustained severe injuries. With Mjölnir, Thor was able to crush the head of Hrungnir the Brawler with a single blow. Another testament of his strength was that the battle between him and the World Serpent broke space-time itself, a feat Kratos, who had traveled time with special devices before, regarded as impossible. Thor is considered to physically be the strongest of the Aesir gods, surpassing the strength of Baldur, Týr, and his sons. Only Odin, his father, and King of the Aesir might equal and/or surpass his strength and aside from Odin and Starkaor, only Surtr holds superior strength to Thor, hence needing Odin and Thor to work together to defeat him in Ragnarok. He could possibly hold strength capable of rivaling Kratos, as he came alone to challenge him.

Superhuman Durability: As the strongest of the Aesir gods, Thor must have tremendous superhuman durability. His durability allows him to endure attacks from the Giants without much damage, which was most likely crucial in his ability to massacre them. However he still can be incapacitated, such as when the colossal body of Hrungnir fell on him he was unable to remove the corpse himself until his sons removed it for him.

Electrokinesis: As the God of Thunder, Thor has absolute control over electricity and lightning, with it being an innate power inherited by his sons, although Thor's electrokinetic powers clearly far surpass theirs. During his attack on Kratos and Atreus, Thor was capable of causing bolts of lightning to constantly rain down on their house by simply willing it.

Atmokinesis: As the God of Storms, Thor has the ability to summon harsh lightning storms at whim. He displayed this power when he caused a giant storm to occur to wake Kratos and Atreus up.

Immortality: As with all Gods, Thor is immortal and cannot be killed by anything not powerful enough.

Abilities

Master Combatant: As the mightiest warrior of Asgard, Thor must be an extremely skilled combatant, as he single-handedly killed almost every giant on Midgard and many other powerful beings. Thor, alongside Odin, is capable of defeating Surtr, the strongest Fire Giant and immensely exceptional combatant, during Ragnarok.

Weapons

Mjölnir: Forged by Brok and Sindri, this special one-handed hammer is Thor's weapon of choice when killing giants and other foes. In Norse mythology, it is said that when thrown, Mjölnir always hits its target and returns to the wielder's hand and that it is capable of crushing mountains in a single blow. It is also described as a "superweapon" by Mimir and as such is one of the most powerful weapons in all of the Nine Realms. The only weapons capable of opposing its immense power are the Leviathan Axe, Surtr's Sword, and possibly the Blades of Chaos.

Trivia

His Greek equivalent (in terms of abilities) is Zeus. However, in terms of ruling Zeus' equivalent was Odin. Thor's bloodthirsty nature also makes him like Ares even though they are not counterparts.

In Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, Thor is referred to as Vulcan (whose Greek counterpart is the god Hephaestus). Vulcan and Hephaestus, like Thor, were gods associated with thunder: Hephaestus (or Vulcan) was said to use his hammer to craft Zeus's (or Jupiter's) thunderbolts. As with Hephaestus, Thor is described in Norse mythology as a benefactor to mankind, bringing gifts to men, a protector of artisans and freemen. Finally, As with Thor, Vulcan and Hephaestus were gods associated with snakes, fertility and healing.

Thor is much like Zeus as they both beat their own sons to a bloody pulp, Zeus beat down Hephaestus for lying to him about Pandora's Box being safe on the back of Cronos, while Thor beat his son Modi for thinking he left his better-received brother Magni behind to die to Kratos.

Thor and Zeus in the series were both seen as monsters, Zeus imprisoned the Titans because of Cronos, while Thor killed and murdered giants simply due to his father's orders.

Another similarity was that they both had more than one lover in their lives, whom they fathered demigod children with, though Thor only ever had two outside of his marriage with Sif, whereas Zeus had several lovers.

While his face is covered in darkness, pausing the image when lightning strikes reveal a man with blue eyes and a red beard, as he is commonly described in Norse mythology.

Faye, Atreus's mother, considered Thor to be the worst of the Aesir. It is understandable for her to think that way, as Thor was considered the most dangerous enemy toward the giants and Faye herself was a giantess.

According to Mimir, Thor wished to fight Faye, but given the giantess' elusiveness, cunning and passing, it never came to pass.

Mimir says that during his fight with the World Serpent at Ragnarok, their battle will be so brutal, that the Yggdrasil will splinter, sending the World Serpent back in time before his birth.

Thor apparently has a daughter, whom Sindri was about to mention the name before Kratos cuts him off.

If the game is faithful to Norse mythology, his daughter's name would be Thrúd.

According to The Lost Pages of Norse Myth:Episode 6; Thor's rampage across Midgard against the Jötnar went on for thirty years.

This is contradicted by Mimir according to him Thor's rampage against the Jotnar in Midgard lasted for 60 years.

When telling Kratos of what he knows of Magni and Modi, Sindri mentions both brothers are of different mothers and it was a "sordid story".

In mythology, Thor was shown to have an association with goats, as shown by his goat-drawn chariot. In the game, this is seemingly reflected with Mjölnir as its hilt is designed with goat heads. In "The Lost Pages of Norse Myth" cinematic, the Mjölnir symbol is designed with goats. Finally, the "Grip of Tanngiost" (which was made in honour of Thor) has a goat head design.